Sun Devils blast through Marquette with shutout

 by Tim O'Donnell
 published on Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Deanna Dent / THE STATE PRESS

SWAT TEAM: Junior Laila Abdala returns a volley during Tuesday’s doubles match against Marquette.

Only one word comes to mind when explaining what the ASU women's tennis team did against visiting Marquette Tuesday afternoon.

Domination.

ASU, ranked No. 14 by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association, got out to an early lead after winning all three of its doubles matches. The Sun Devils finished the match with a 7-0 victory.

Freshman Micaela Hein clinched the match early for the Sun Devils with a 6-1, 6-1 singles victory.

"It feels good to be playing back at home," Hein said after playing the role of visitors for the past two weeks. "We've been on the road recently and it's nice to be back."

Sophomore Nadia Abdala continued ASU's hot streak at the No. 1 singles position.

Abdala, ranked No. 35, double faulted twice in the first game, but rallied with four consecutive wins.

Serving errors were a problem for Abdala, who struggled to find her rhythm early on in the match.

Abdala went on to win the 45 minute first set 6-3 and followed it up with a 6-2 victory in the second set. The straight set victory for Abdala was a lot closer than the score would indicate — several games went to deuce.

Freshman Kelcy McKenna also pulled off a close victory in the No. 2 slot. McKenna won the first set 6-2, but barely pulled off the second set, 7-5.

The team points had already been decided, but both competitors played as if the match hung in the balance, running down every shot.

The Sun Devils are now on a two-match winning streak after rebounding from back-to-back losses at both California and Stanford.

"We learned a lot," Hein said of losing to the Bay Area schools. "We thought winning would come easy and we got a wake up call."

Coach Sheila McInerney said a match in the middle of the week was excellent preparation for ASU's match against archrival UA this weekend.

"It was good to get an outdoor match after playing Oregon indoors," McInerney said. "The match breaks up the week nicely and it's always better to play matches than to practice."

Although the Sun Devils didn't drop one set against Marquette, McInerney still suggested that her team make changes before this weekend's showdown with the Wildcats.

"We didn't play as well as I would've liked in doubles and our energy level needs to be higher," McInerney said.

The Sun Devils play host to UA Saturday, in ASU's 11th home match of the season.
"It's really weird how the schedule worked out this year," McInerney said. "It's feast or famine. We're home for two weeks straight then away for two weeks straight."

Saturday's match is slated to start at 1 p.m.

Reach the reporter at: todonnel@asu.edu.